Best Mobile Apps for Productivity | TSI Blog

In keeping with our Best In Mobile theme, we’re taking a look at the best mobile apps for productivity. The apps below are all available for multiple platforms, and have a web/desktop version as well! Check out our post from last week where we discussed the Best Mobile Phones for Business Use.

When it comes to picking the best apps for your phone there are literally thousands to choose from. For some people trial and error is a perfectly legitimate and useful method of deciding which apps will make the cut. Some people, however, prefer to check out the reviews and see what others have to say before downloading an app and giving up precious storage space.

Whichever category you fall in to, we’ve rounded up a list of some of the best apps for productivity (i.e.: making your day easier) for your smartphone of choice. To sweeten the pot, every single one of these apps is available for use across devices – so you can take the convenience from your phone to your desktop or tablet.

This app is a pretty universal favorite, and a lifesaver. If you get into the habit of saving everything to your DropBox rather than your hard drive you’ll be able to easily access files and send them to people on the go.(Editor’s Note: I don’t save anything to my hard drive anymore – it’s all on DropBox. I purchased the $99/year plan that gives me 1TB of storage – way more than enough for all of my documents and photos.)

You’ll also have the peace of mind of knowing your documents safe and accessible from anywhere, so if your computer dies or your phone gets lost, you won’t lose all of your data. And if you do lose your phone, you can log into your DropBox account and disable the accessibility of the phone remotely, so that your documents stay safe and private.

Although there are a couple of quirks with Google Drive in general – sometimes formatting between Google Docs/Sheets and Microsoft Office formats gets a bit wonky – Google Drive is incredibly convenient. Similar to DropBox, you can save files and photos in Google Drive and access them anywhere, anytime. If you begin actually creating your documents on one of the Google platforms (Docs, Sheets, or Forms) you can also edit them anywhere, anytime.

You can also convert Microsoft Office format documents into Google documents when you upload them to your drive, meaning that you can edit Word documents or Excel sheets easily.

While every smartphone comes with a built-in browser, Google Chrome is a very worthy replacement for a number of reasons. One of them is the cross-compatibility between platforms. Your bookmarks and settings sync seamlessly across devices, and you can view webpages that are open on one device from another (this is especially handy if you start looking at something on your computer, and then want to continue reading on your phone when you walk away).

Another handy trick for Google Chrome (for both mobile and desktop versions, to be honest) is that you can circumvent those annoying “X number of article” limits on news websites that require a subscription! Simply copy/paste the link and open it in an Incognito tab and voila! You can now read as many articles per month as you want, without needing to pay the subscription fee.

Imagine this: You see an article on social media that you want to read, but you don’t have the time. Or you’re in the middle of a reading something and you’ve got shut down your computer. Or you’re reading an awesome blog post that you want to remember to share with colleagues later, or use for inspiration on your company blog. What do you do? Do you bookmark every single article? No. You use Pocket.

By using Pocket you can create a digital library of articles you’ve curated, tag them for easy accessibility, and go through them at your leisure. You don’t even have to open the article to do it! Once you’ve got Pocket installed on your phone you can simply click and hold a link and the option to send it to Pocket will pop-up. Pocket also allows users to share the article/post via social media, or email it. And, best of all, you can access Pocket across platforms. (Pro Tip: If you’re using it on Google Chrome for desktop, you can add an extension that allows you to easily save any page you have open!)

This app allows you to keep all of your usernames and passwords safe, as well as files and documents. They bill themselves as “The World’s most secure password manager and digital vault,” and they live up to the hype. The app isn’t free, but it can be used for individuals and businesses alike. Their Group Use plan allows unlimited password storage, encrypted cloud backup, and file sharing between users, all while ensuring that your data is secure.

What are your favorite apps for boosting productivity (or just… you know, staying entertained)? Let us know in the comments, or on TwitterorFacebook!